The following is a list of winter sports athletes, coaches and teams who were named all-conference first team, second team and honorable mention in girls swimming and wrestling in the 5A Jeffco League for the 2011-12 season:

GIRLS BASKETBALL
Sanford’s first-half run seals Lady Falcons’ season
LA JUNTA — Sanford blew open a close game with an 11-2 run in the second quarter to go up by 15 points at halftime en route to a 52-26 victory over Front Range Christian in the first round of the 2A Region 6 tournament on March 2 at Otera Junior College.
The Lady Falcons ended their season with a 10-11 record.
Rye ended Sanford’s season at 20-3 with a 52-50 victory in Region 6 finals one day later.

DENVER — The clock finally struck midnight on the Columbine Rebels. Almost literally.
Playing in the final game of the 5A boys basketball Great Eight at the Denver Coliseum on March 2, Columbine watched top-seeded Chaparral nearly run it out of the building en route to a 76-61 victory.

DENVER — Chatfield’s season came to an end for a second straight year in the state semifinals, falling to Regis Jesuit, 3-2 in overtime, in the Frozen Four on March 2 at DU’s Magness Arena.
The teams met in the first game of the season with Regis winning 2-0. But heading into the semifinals, Chatfield (14-7-1) had won its last six games by outscoring the opposition 37-9. And despite being outshot 38-12, the Chargers, led by Matt Smith’s 35 saves, were able to send the game into overtime.

Waterton Canyon reopened to the public March 1 after a year-and-a-half-long closure to siphon massive amounts of sediment from Strontia Springs Reservoir.

However, the wide canyon trail, popular with cyclists and hikers during warm weather, will be closed in the spring for about three weeks as crews disassemble and remove the 75-ton dredge from the reservoir, which sits at the top of the canyon trail. The closure date has yet to be determined, as removal of the heavy machinery is dependent on the reservoir’s ice melting.

Three of the seven West Metro Fire Rescue board of director seats are up for election in May, and as of last week the district had received only a handful of self-nominations.

Board president and District 4 director Pam Feely is running again for her seat, though incumbent Ted Waller is ineligible to run, as he no longer resides in District 7 following a redrawing of district boundaries that pushed Waller out by several blocks.

Heritage High School swimmer Shelly Patton will graduate in May, compete in the Olympic Trials in Omaha in June, and head off for a swimming career at Division I Northwestern University in Chicago in the fall.

Patton swims for Shawn Smith on the University of Denver Hilltoppers (TOPS), a year-round competitive swim team. Patton, who has risen in prominence in Littleton and the Denver area swimming world over the past few years, says her work with Smith and “the environment of TOPS” groomed her for success and for college recruitment.